Alborada del gracioso

[4][5] Gracioso has roots in the troubadour and trouvère traditions: he was a figure of Spanish comedy,[1] the genial buffoon,[6] the grotesque lover,[7] an amusingly entertaining person,[8] a servant who comments on the actions of his superiors.

It was danced to a composite score that included "Alborada del gracioso" (in its piano version) along with Gabriel Fauré's Pavane and pieces by Louis Aubert and Emmanuel Chabrier.

[15] Diaghilev commissioned Ravel to orchestrate the Alborada (and the Chabrier piece, the Menuet pompeux) for a production of the ballet, retitled Les jardins d'Aranjuez, at the Alhambra Theatre, London in 1919.

They are then brought together in what the commentator Eric Bromberger describes as "a great explosion of sound, subtly tinted by Ravel's use of castanets, tambourine, cymbals and harp".

[1][21] To represent the sounds of the extreme treble of the piano original, the accompaniment to the bassoon melody is scored for 24-part strings, some instruments bowed, others plucked, and deploying a range of harmonics, multiple stops and sul tasto effects.

[12] The piece builds to a conclusion and ends in what critics have variously described as "a blaze of orchestral color",[21] "an exhilarating climax",[22] and "a grand and glorious racket".